Epstein says things will get better in right

PHILADELPHIA — Adrian Gonzalez played right field for the Red Sox on Wednesday night, and thus the Red Sox had a more potent bat in right field than any team except maybe the Toronto Blue Jays.

By BRIAN MacPHERSON | | Journal Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA - Adrian Gonzalez played right field for the RedSox on Wednesday night, and thus the Red Sox had a more potent batin right field than any team except maybe the Toronto BlueJays.

But in every other game this season, the Red Sox have hadbottom-of-the-barrel production from their right fielders. J.D.Drew and his .326 slugging percentage have been the primaryculprit, but Mike Cameron's .266 slugging percentage hasn't donemuch to help matters.

The Red Sox have been one of the most potent offensive teams inthe major leagues this season. Entering play Wednesday, only theNew York Yankees scored more runs. But if Red Sox general managerTheo Epstein wants to improve his roster before the July 31 tradingdeadline, right field provides an opportunity.

"I am encouraged by the fact that we can be where we areoffensively without much, if anything at all, out of right field,"Epstein said. "It will get better. There's no way we're going tohave the same production the rest of the year that we've had sofar. We'll improve internally and - who knows? - there's a chancewe'll improve at certain spots externally at some point, too. It'llget better."

With Carl Crawford on the disabled list, Terry Francona hasrotated Cameron, Drew, Darnell McDonald and Triple-A call-up JoshReddick through the lineup in left field and right field. Thereturn of Crawford to left field will force one outfielder off theroster and leave the other three to rotate through right field.

Drew entered the season as the starter and has the longest trackrecord of success, and Francona isn't about to cast him asideyet.

"I always feel like if J.D. is healthy, he's too good a hitternot to get hot," Francona said.

The best hitter in the group of late actually has been Reddick,who hit below .200 in his big-league stints over the last twoyears. Entering play Wednesday, he was hitting .414 with a .457on-base percentage in 35 plate appearances this season. He's hit.438 with a .500 on-base percentage since the injury to Crawfordprompted his latest call-up.

He singled in his first two at-bats on Wednesday.

"More so than any stats or anything, it's really nice to see hismaturation, especially with his approach at the plate," Epsteinsaid. "He's been a guy who, from the day he signed, has plenty ofbat speed to hit in the big leagues. The ball came off his barrelgreat. It was just a matter of refining his approach at the plate alittle bit to give him a little bit more discipline, a little bitmore selectiveness without taking away that aggression that's a bigpart of his game. He's really made that adjustment on his own."

But if Reddick were to start playing every day, it would be atthe expense of Cameron, Drew and McDonald - and it would betantamount to giving up on all three.

"We have other guys on the team who are really capable, too, whohaven't performed yet," Epstein said. "We've got to give those guyschances. It's a long season for a reason. Things have a way ofbalancing out. It ends up becoming real obvious who should play inthe end."

The other downside with Reddick is that he, like Drew, hits fromthe left side. Three of the five best hitters in the Red Sox lineupalready swing from the left side, and a righthanded bat would fitnicely.

Another righty or two in the lineup might not have made all thedifference Tuesday night against Philadelphia lefty Cliff Lee, forexample, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt.

A handful of right-handed hitters will probably be on the marketas the July 31 trade deadline approaches - among them Minnesota'sMichael Cuddyer, San Diego's Ryan Ludwick and Oakland's JoshWillingham.

None of the three would hit cleanup in the Red Sox lineup, butany one of the three would provide an upgrade over what Cameron andDrew have done thus far.

"You'd have to be blind not to notice that we're not gettingmuch out of right field," Epstein said. "We're all expecting to getmore out of it going forward."

A report circulated on Wednesday that the Red Sox might not beable to add payroll if necessary to improve the team, be it in theoutfield or elsewhere. Epstein declined to go into specifics aboutthe payroll - but he didn't exactly cry poor.

"The track record of the ownership group speaks for itself,whether it's during the offseason phase, when we're building theclub, or during July, when we're tweaking it," he said."Collectively, we find a way to do what it takes to put a winningclub on the field. I'm not going to get into the specifics of thefinances, but I think we'll be aggressive and find ways to makeimprovements when needed."